BII backs code policing

British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) chief executive Neil Robertson has defended the organisation's policing of the codes.

At the recent All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group chairman, he was asked by chairman Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland if there was a "fundamental problem" with the role the BII is trying to play and whether there was a conflict of interest, as many of its corporate members are pubcos.

Robertson said: "The role the BII plays as a professional body of the industry is closely associated with the corporate members and individual members. We are not independent, we are part of the industry. Our job is to stand up for what is right, good practice and excellence. It is within our mission to ask questions of our members, to say when something is wrong, be they corporate or individual members. And what we have done is to extend that to non-members.

"The primary worry for me is not the tie, not open-market rent reviews and not surveyors. It is the gullible people coming into the industry who have in the past been taken advantage of."

Robertson said pubcos and critics had worked hard to ensure the system has worked.

He added: "I have been despondent in that we have a situation where we may have had seven out of 10 tenants not fully understanding the business model. I suspect we are now at four or five out of 10 who do not fully understand the model."

Code breaches​

Five breaches of codes of practice with tenants have been made since the codes were updated, the BII revealed.

The breaches, considered minor, involved Punch (three), Scottish & Newcastle Pub Company (one) and Enterprise (one ongoing case).

The BII will unveil further details to MPs on the Business, Innovation & Skills Committee, when it reconvenes.

All breaches are categorised as either minor or major in terms of their level

of seriousness.

A major breach will be one that the BII decides will "materially affect" the business of the lessee/tenant, the body said.